John Oliver mocks Prince Philip being related to wife Queen Elizabeth after Duke of Edinburgh’s death

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John Oliver mocked the fact that Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth were related after the Duke of Edinburgh’s death.

Prince Philip died on April 9 at Windsor Castle at the age 0f 99, sparking eight days of mourning in the United Kingdom.

He had been married to Queen Elizabeth for 73 years at the time of his death. 

Oliver, 43, addressed Prince Philip’s death on the Sunday night episode of Last Week Tonight as he recapped the week’s news, and joked about the Queen being Philip’s third cousin and both being great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria.

The British-born comedian said: ‘In the UK, Prince Philip died, which is a tragedy if you don’t know a single thing about him. And even if you know a little bit about him, you might not know this.’

He cut to a segment from Sky News where it was asked how Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II met, with a pundit saying: ‘Well, they were related.’

Oliver said: ‘Yeah, it’s true. Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth are cousins who later got married—also known as a Giuliani meet cute.’

Rudy Giuliani’s first marriage was annulled after 14 years after he discovered wife Regina Peruggi was his second cousin. 

Oliver was born in Birmingham to Liverpudlian parents, and attended Christ’s College, Cambridge, before moving to New York in 2006 to join The Daily Show; he was made a US citizen in 2019.

He has been publicly critical of the Royal family in his comedy and in interviews, and months before Meghan Markle got married to Prince Harry, he called the family ‘fundamentally flawed’.

Speaking on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Community actor said: ‘I would not blame her if she pulled out of this at the last minute. I don’t think you need to have just seen the pilot episode of The Crown to get a basic sense of, she might be marrying into a family that could cause her some emotional complications.

‘They’re an emotionally stunted group of fundamentally flawed people doing a very silly, pseudo job. That’s what she’s marrying into. So I hope she likes it. It’s going to be weird for her. I would not marry into the royal family. I’m a commoner. I would not be welcome, especially after what I’ve just said.’

Following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, Oliver told Jimmy Fallon: ‘I didn’t find any of it surprising. That is kind of what I felt like, sadly, her experience was going to be going in. I grew up [in England], I know the royal family from a distance, and they seem like flawed people. That’s literally the kindest way I can possibly put it.

‘The only thing that shocked me after was that Oprah, the next day, saying, “Oh, Prince Harry wants to make it clear it wasn’t Prince Philip being racist”.” Which made me think, “Really? OK, that is actually surprising.” I think it was assumed, and I guess people just didn’t hear him.’

Prince Philip’s funeral will be held this Saturday in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, with only 30 people permitted to attend due to current coronavirus measures.

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